.jpg?20260326')
A drunk driver, who caused an accident on a highway, then impersonated his brother during a blood alcohol test, has lost his appeal at the Supreme Criminal Appeals Court.
The 36-year-old Jordanian man was sentenced to 15 months behind bars in February this year by the High Criminal Court for impersonation, misusing identification documents and theft.
His arrest at the site of the collision also led authorities to later discover that he was behind another crime that occurred a month before the incident, in which he broke into a seemingly-random man’s car and stole his CPR card.
The car theft took place in March 2024, and the defendant had managed to get away with it, until he decided to present the stranger’s CPR card to policemen following the April accident.
When the appellant arrived at the Interior Ministry Police Fort clinic for a blood alcohol test, he told officers that he was not the person on the card, but presented his brother’s CPR card instead.
Blood test results and the accident were both recorded under his brother’s name, though General Directorate of Traffic detention centre management eventually caught on to the ploy.
The appellant ended up informing authorities of his real name, and confessed to twice using CPR cards that were not his.
The GDN earlier reported that on questioning, the man admitted to lying to his brother, who was in Jordan at the time of the incident, in order to obtain his CPR card, claiming that he needed it to open a business in his name.
Then, he used the identification to fill out an alcohol test form, and was charged with falsely populating it with his brother’s personal information and submitting it to a well-meaning civil servant.
Only after calling the appellant did the Jordanian find out that his sibling was in traffic police custody for driving under the influence.
Court documents state that a few weeks before the incident, the man broke into another person’s car and stole his CPR card.
The man whose CPR card was stolen had earlier lodged a police report about the theft, and even provided CCTV footage which was later used to confirm the appellant’s identity.
“In March, I came out of my house and realised that my wallet was stolen from my car. It contained my CPR card, driver’s licence and four bank cards,” he testified.
“In April, I received a call from the General Directorate of Traffic and went there, where I found out that the appellant used his card. I was also shown his photo and positively identified him.”
The High Criminal Court sentenced him to a year and three months behind bars on charges of identity theft and breaking into someone’s vehicle to take something that was not his.
Judges also ordered to deport him after completing his jail term.
The Supreme Criminal Appeals Court upheld the sentence upon appeal.
zainab@gdnmedia.bh
&uuid=(email))